1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device provided with the function to convert energy transmitted from the outside and communicate with the outside regarding the performance of designated operation or information, as well as provided with the function to display the contents of communication. The invention also relates to an ink tank provided with such semiconductor device, and an ink jet cartridge, and an ink jet recording apparatus as well.
Also, the present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device provided with the function to convert energy transmitted from the outside, and communicate with the outside regarding the performance of designated operation or information, as well as provided with the function to display the contents of communication. Further, the invention relates to communication system, a method for adjusting pressure, security system, and memory element, which utilize the aforesaid semiconductor device.
2. Related Background Art
There are many apparatuses and equipments that detect the environmental information under the environments that surround us, and then, make decision and operate in accordance with the result thus detected.
For example, a cooler detects the current environmental temperature, and compares it with the predetermined temperature. Then, when the temperature is lower than the predetermined value, the device incorporated therein operates heating or operates cooling if the detected temperature is higher on the contrary. It is comparatively easy to structure such devices by use of the conventional equipment, components, and the like.
However, even when it is extremely difficult to structure components due to the inability of securing a sufficient space with restriction imposed upon the arrangement space, while the environmental information that should be taken into account is not only temperature, but many other aspects, a designated operation should be executed with an instantaneous decision to be made in accordance with the environmental information. There are many demands in this respect, but the status quo is that due to several restrictions including those described above, these demands have not been met satisfactorily as yet.
In recent years, even in the field of microdevices the utilization of which is expected widely in many industries, a considerable number of research and development projects are underway, but there are still many more studies needed for making them practicable.
Now, as a specific example of the field in which the utilization of microdevices is required, the filed of recording can be cited.
At present, various kinds of printer systems are utilized for printing various kinds of images. Such kind of printer system is formed by connecting a data processing apparatus like a personal computer, a printing apparatus, for example. Then, the printing apparatus outputs on a recording medium, such as a printing sheet, the printing data which have been processed by data processing apparatus.
As printer apparatuses used for such kind of printing system, there are on the market various apparatus using various recording methods at present. Of those kinds of recording methods, the so-called ink jet recording method is extremely useful, because this recording method is non-impact and generates almost no noises at the time of recording, making high-speed recording possible on an ordinary paper sheet without any particular fixation treatment.
The ink jet recording is such that a carriage having a recording head mounted thereon travels in the printing direction, while discharging ink from a plurality of discharge nozzles arranged for the ink jet recording head (hereinafter, referred to simply as a recording head as the case may be), thus printing images on the recording sheet by means of dot patterns. The discharge ink for recording use is contained in an ink tank and supplied to the recording head through ink supply paths. If the ink which should be supplied no longer exists in the ink tank, not only image formation becomes impossible, but the recording head may be damaged in some cases. Therefore, various proposals have been made to provide an ink remainder detection device for detecting the remainders of ink in the ink tank.
For example, in accordance with Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-143607, the structure is disclosed in which as shown in FIG. 1 two (a pair of) electrodes 702 are arranged on the inner face of an ink tank 701 on the bottom side where non-conductive ink is filled, and then, a float 703 having electrodes 704 arranged to face the electrodes 702 is provided to float in ink in the ink tank 701. The two electrodes 702 are connected to the detecting section (not shown) that detects the conductive condition of both electrodes, respectively. Then, when the conductive condition of both electrodes is detected, the ink remainder error is issued to indicate that there in no more ink in the ink tank 701, and the operation of ink jet recording head 705 is suspended.
Also, in accordance with the specification of Japanese Patent No. 2947245, the ink cartridge 805 for use of ink jet printer is disclosed, which is structured to form the lower part thereof in the funnel form toward the bottom face, and at the same time, two conductors 801 and 802 are arranged on the bottom face as shown in FIG. 2. Then, the metallic ball 804 having a smaller gravity than ink 803 is arranged in the interior thereof. With the structure thus arranged, the liquid surface of ink 803 is lowered as ink 803 is consumed. Along with this, the position of the metallic ball 804 that floats on the surface of ink 803 is gradually lowered. When the liquid surface of ink 803 is lowered to the position of bottom face of ink cartridge housing, the metallic ball 804 is in contact with the two conductors 801 and 802. Then, the conductors 801 and 802 become conductive to allow electric current to flow across them. With detection of such current, the condition of ink end can be detected. With the detection of ink end condition, information indicating this ink end condition is notified to the user.
There has been known each of the structures represented by those disclosed in the publications described above for the detection of ink remainders in ink tank. However, it is required for each of them to provide electrodes for use of detection in the ink tank, and at the same time, to form a connector with the outside in order to transmit detection signals. Also, for the detection of ink remainders by the conductive condition across electrodes, no metallic ion or the like is used for the ink component so as not to cause electrolysis in ink, with the result that structural restriction is imposed on the apparatus with respect to ink to be used.
Also, in accordance with the structures disclosed in the aforesaid publications, only the amount of remaining ink is detected, and no other information in the interior of ink tank is obtainable from the outside. For example, the pressure information in the ink tank, the changes of physical properties of ink, and the like are important parameters for the ink jet recording head to operate at all the time in a stable amount of ink dischargers. Thus, it is desirable to inform the external ink jet recording apparatus of the internal of tank that changes from time to time along with the consumption of ink in the tank, as well as to communicate with the outside as to the changes of physical properties of ink.
Further, it is desired to provide an ink tank which is capable of not only providing the detected information of the internal condition of ink tank on one-way for the outside, but also, capable of exchanging information bidirectionally, such as to provide the internal information in response to inquires from the outside.
Also, for the color ink jet recording apparatus that uses plural kinds of ink for the formation of color images, the structure is proposed so that ink tank is formed per color, and that only the ink tank having no more ink in it is made replaceable independently. For the color ink tank of the kind, it is necessary to install each ink tank on the designated position per color. In order to prevent the user from installing ink tank on inadequate position when such kind of ink jet recording apparatus is used, it is generally practiced to configure ink tank of each color different so as to structurally avoid the installation on inadequate position. However, to differentiate the ink tank configurations in a number of ink colors leads to the increased costs of ink tank. Therefore, it is desired to provide the ink tank that can deal with the improvement of installation aspect, while keeping each of ink tanks in the same configuration.
On the other hand, the ink jet recording apparatus is provided with a plurality of nozzles (discharge ports) for discharging ink, and the ink which is supplied from the ink tank to the recording head is retained in each of the nozzles by means of the balance of capillary phenomenon and surface tension. As a result, in a case where the recording head and ink tank are mounted on a carriage, for example, ink is caused to leak from nozzles if the internal pressure of ink tank is higher than the atmospheric pressure. Here, it is necessary to make the internal pressure negative in the ink tank. Also, if an ink tank is an airtightly closed container, the negative pressure in the ink tank becomes higher along with the consumption of ink in the ink tank. Then, with the negative pressure which should become too high, ink in the nozzles is drawn to the ink tank side to cause such drawback as inability to discharge ink when the recording head is driven to discharge ink from the nozzles.
Therefore, in accordance with the conventional ink tank, an ink absorbent of porous material, fibrous material, or the like is contained partially or totally in the interior thereof, and at the same time, the chamber in which the ink absorbent is contained is conditioned to be communicative with the air outside, thus enabling the ink absorbent to absorb and retain ink. In this manner, the interior of ink tank is conditioned to be in negative pressure.
Here, nevertheless, ink is retained by enabling ink absorbent to absorb it with the result that the efficiency of ink storage is lowered inevitably. Also, whereas the interior of ink tank is conditioned to be communicative with the air outside, the negative pressure becomes higher when the amount of ink retained in the ink absorbent becomes smaller, and there is still a possibility that the discharges of ink from the recording head is disabled depending on the relations with the external pressure exerted on the ink tank. Therefore, if it is possible to provide an additional function to an ink tank so as to adjust the pressure in the interior of the ink tank, any ink absorbent is no longer needed, and also, the efficiency of ink storage is enhanced. Here, it is desired to provide an ink tank having such function. Also, in order to adjust the pressure in the interior of ink tank, there is a need for knowing the condition of internal pressure of ink tank by all means directly or indirectly.
Meanwhile, the development of ink jet recording technologies is remarkable, and the printing accuracy thereof has become extremely high in recent years. Thus, conceivably, the ink jet recording technologies can be utilized even for producing securities, official documents, or the like. For the printer system used for producing those documents, it is required to provide the security function so that the ink jet printer cannot be used by any one other than the owner or the authorized person by registration.
Also, copyright is given to the documents and images produced by the person himself with a computer dedicated to his personal use. No third party is allowed to print them out without the permission of such person. In this case, too, the printer should provide some security function as described above.
With respect to the development of recording systems to meet the various kinds of requirements described above, the inventors hereof have given attention to the ball semiconductor manufactured by the Ball Semiconductor Inc., in which semiconductor integrated circuit is formed on the spherical surface of a silicon ball of approximately 1 mm diameter. Since this ball semiconductor is spherical, it is expected that the detection of surrounding environmental information and the bidirectional information exchange with the outside can be carried out efficiently in a better condition than the flat type semiconductor if the ball semiconductor is contained in the ink tank. However, as a result of thorough investigation on the art that provides such function of the kind, it has been found that there are only those ones which are used for connecting ball semiconductors themselves by means of electric wires such as disclosed in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 5,877,943, and that a ball semiconductor device itself should be developed in order to provide such function as described above. Also, there some more problems to solve before the ball semiconductor device is effectively used for an ink tank.
One of the problems is that a novel device should be provided in order to form means for accumulating information on such a device as the ball semiconductor, and that the novel device should be capable of making itself very small at first, and then, capable of being driven with a small amount of power dissipation, while keeping information without being influenced by the fluctuation of energy supplied from the power-supply system, and if required, being able to rewrite information.
Another problem is that the provision of an ink tank which is capable of performing the bidirectional exchange of information such as to receive inquiries from the outside and return internal information, not only by performing the one-way transmission of the detected internal information of ink tank to the outside.
Still another problem is that the device that accumulates information should be driven by the application of low electric power, together with the provision of power supply system to actuate the device contained in the tank. If the power-supply source should be built in the ink tank to actuate the device, the tank inevitably becomes larger. Even when the power-supply source is provided outside the tank, it is still necessary to arrange means for connecting the power-supply source and the device. This inevitably increases the costs of tank manufacture. Thus, the tank cartridge should become expensive. Therefore, the device should be actuated from the outside by use of non-contact means.
It is a further problem to be solved that the device should float on the ink liquid surface in the ink tank or should be capable of residing in ink with a designated depth from the liquid surface. For example, it is desirable to position the device on the ink liquid surface in order to monitor the changing amount of negative pressure in time series along with the consumption of ink in the ink tank, but it is difficult to enable the device to float on ink, because it is formed by silicon having a specific gravity greater than water.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a solid type semiconductor device having security function therefor, which can be actuated from the outside in non-contact so as to be able to detect environmental information surrounding the device and also, to perform extremely efficient communicate with the outside bidirectionally, at the same time, being capable of detecting the internal condition of the ink tank (such as the kind of ink contained in the tank, internal pressure, temperature, pH, ink remainders), and adjusting the pressure inside the container in non-contact with the outside of the container. It is also objects of the invention to provide a method for manufacturing such device, an ink tank provided with the device thus manufactured, an ink jet cartridge, as well as an ink jet recording apparatus.
It is also the object of the invention to provide a method for adjusting pressure for adjusting the pressure inside the container, at the same time, to provide the communication system which is actuated in non-contact, be able to detect surrounding environmental information and carry out extremely efficient bidirectional communications with the outside, as well as to provide the solid type semiconductor device with the security function to make it possible to registration from the outside, and also, to perform the user discrimination, hence providing the security system of the recording apparatus whereby to disable recording by any person other than the owner or the authorized personnel by registration, and the memory element used for this system as well.
The solid (three-dimensional) type semiconductor device of the present invention comprises energy converting means for converting energy from outside, and operating means operated by energy converted by the energy converting means.
Also, the communication system of the present invention that uses solid type semiconductor device comprises a liquid container having the solid type semiconductor device arranged therefor; an oscillation circuit provided with conductor coil, information acquiring means for acquiring information inside the container, reception means for receiving signals from the outside, and information communicating means for communicating information to the outside formed for the solid type semiconductor device; an external resonance circuit arranged outside the solid type semiconductor device to generate electric power by magnetic induction between the circuit and the oscillation circuit of the solid type semiconductor device; and an external communication means for communicating bidirectionally by the reception means and the information communicating means of the solid type semiconductor device.
Further, the method of the present invention for manufacturing a solid type semiconductor device, comprises the steps of forming a protection film A on the entire surface of Si; forming opening on a part of the protection film A; removing only the upper part of the Si; forming a protection film B on the inner and outer surfaces of the work formed by the Si and protection film A; making the hollow portion in airtightly closed condition by use of conductive material; and forming conductor coil made by the conductive material.
Also, the method of the present invention for manufacturing a solid type semiconductor device comprises the steps of forming a protection film A on the entire surface of Si; forming opening on a part of the protection film A; removing only the upper part of the Si; forming a protection film B on the inner and outer surfaces of the work formed by the Si and protection film A; making the hollow portion in airtightly closed condition by use of conductive material and forming conductive film on the entire surface thereof; and patterning the conductive film to from conductor coil made by conductive material.
Further, according to the present invention, the security system of a recording apparatus is provided with a recording head cartridge detachably mounted thereon, in which the recording head cartridge comprises a recognized data holding portion for holding as recognized data the personal information recognized by recognizing portion for recognizing personal information; a key code A holding portion for holding key code A; an encode converting portion for encoding the recognized data by the key code A; an encoded data holding portion for holding the encoded data by the encode data converting portion; an information input and output portion for receiving the key code A from the recording apparatus side, and for transmitting the recognized data and the encoded data to the recording apparatus; an energy converting portion for converting electromotive force supplied from the recording apparatus side in non-contact into electric power for actuating each of structural portions, and then, the recording apparatus comprises an energy supplying portion for supplying electromotive force to the energy converting portion in non-contact; a key code K setting portion for the owner of recording apparatus to set the key code K; a key code A holding portion and a key code B holding portion for holding key code A and key code B created from the key code K, respectively; an information input and output portion for transmitting the key code A to the solid type semiconductor device, and for receiving the recognized data and the encoded data from the solid type semiconductor device side; a recognized data holding portion for holding the recognized data; an encoded data holding portion for holding the encoded data; a decode converting portion for decoding the encoded data by the key code B; a decoded data holding portion for holding decoded data by the decode converting portion; a data comparing portion for comparing the recognized data and the decoded data for reference; and discrimination processing portion for admitting the use of recording apparatus or making the use thereof impossible in accordance with the result of comparison by the data comparing portion.
Also, the ink tank of the present invention is characterized in that at least one solid type semiconductor device arranged therefor which comprises energy converting means for converting energy from the outside; and operating means operated by energy converted by the energy converting means.
Further, the ink tank, which contains ink to be supplied to a discharge head for discharging ink, and holds negative pressure in the interior thereof, comprises pressure adjustment means for adjusting negative pressure in the interior in accordance with negative pressure in the interior; and energy converting means for converting energy provide from the outside into energy of different kind from the energy for operating the pressure adjustment means.
Also, the method of the present invention for adjusting pressure, which uses a solid type semiconductor device arranged for a container holding negative pressure in the interior thereof, and which is provided with pressure adjustment means for adjusting negative pressure inside the container in accordance with the internal pressure of the container, and energy converting means for converting energy provided from outside into different kind of energy from the energy in order to operate the pressure adjustment means, comprises the step of keeping pressure inside the container regularly by comparing pressure detected by the pressure detecting means for detecting pressure inside the container with the pressure inside the container.
Further, the memory element of the present invention comprises energy converting means for converting external energy supplied from the outside in non-contact into electric power, in which personal information is held by actuating the electric power.
Here, in this specification, the term xe2x80x9cmetacenterxe2x80x9d means the intersection point of the line of action of weight at the time of being balanced, and the line of buoyance at the time of inclination.
Also, in this specification, the term xe2x80x9csolid typexe2x80x9d of the xe2x80x9csolid type semiconductor devicexe2x80x9d is meant to include all the various three-dimensional shapes, such as a triangle, a sphere, a semi-sphere, a square column, a rotatively elliptical body, a mono-axially rotative body, among some others.
As the method for supplying external energy, it should be good enough if only means for supplying electromotive force to the device as the external energy is arranged in the recovery position, returning position, or arranged for the carriage, head, or the like when this method is applied to an ink jet recording apparatus. Besides this, if only an apparatus having means for supplying electromotive force is used, it becomes possible to detect internal conditions of an ink tank without ink jet recording apparatus. For example, therefore, this method can be adopted for carrying out inspection or the like at a factory or a shop (for quality guarantee).